Pack ice

Low tide with the remains of a huge iceburg that broke up and got blown into the bay. The pack ice chunks varied is size. Some as big as an aparment building and some as small as an ice cube. In the middle of August, no one was boating and the commercial ships were unable to unload. Havoc on the beach! The pack ice blew in and the out again. It all returned with even larger pieces. It was crazy! The waters are usually clear of ice through July and August in this part of the bay. This was very unusual. So much ice was surrounding the town that it was a very chilly summer.

Yes we get summer.

I am often asked if the snow ever melts in Iqaluit. Yes! We get summer just like the rest of the northern hemiphere. The days are long. It never really gets dark out in June and July. 20 hours of daylight and 4 hours of twilight. The temperatures can reach to over 20 degrees Celcius but an average summer day is 12C or around 55F. Above you can see a popular camp site along a tidal beach. The tides can be up to 12 meters. The beach sits at the end of a small inlet that fills and empties with the tides.

Merry Christmas

Everyone comfy?

Everyone is comfortable in the igloo as we wait for the new year to begin.

Mmmmmm char steaks

Pan fried arctic char steaks on a pot belly stove. The wood in the fire had to be imported as we are far above the treeline.
The char is from local waters and are plentiful. They are delicious too. Char are much like salmon but tastier in my opinion.

Time to put out my Christmas Stockings.
Each one can hold 30 lbs. of candy with room to spare.

It's a wolf. Honest. Can you find him in the picture below?
I had a hard time finding this wolf in a set of 8 pics. I knew he was in there.

Here is a photograph of Sylvia Grinnell river on Baffin Island near Iqaluit. I had taken a panoramic series of pictures in an effort to make one large mosaic picture. After taking the pictures, I noticed an arctic wolf wandering over the frozen river. I downloaded the shots and looked through them to see if I captured a big bad wolf. Indeed I had! It is in the picture above. Honest. I scoured every pixel to find him but he is in there. The enlarged picture is below. It will give you a hint.
TIme to get a better camera. The resolution here is a result of a 2 megapixal camera. 10 megapixals would have been so much better. There isn't much daylight at 11:00 AM on Baffin Island. The windchill at the time of this shot was minus 41C. That would be minus 41.8F for non metric thinkers.

Kimmirut

Niaqunnguusiariaq Road. 

Say that ten times fast.

This pic is very poor. First of all it is cold outside. Secondly, I should have taken the picture well before 2 PM as the sun was setting and it was not very good lighting for such a shot.
The name of this road has caused many tourists to tie thier tongues in knots. The locals do not even use the street names but rather locate things by a unique house number. Get in a cab and say "Take me to 3238" or "Take me to 164B". No street just a number.

arctic bloggers

I ran into a blog that I could really relate to. The post is called "The Plane" and you can view it at http://www.nunablog.ca.
I had to leave a comment on the post. I have been to Igloolik many times. The plane trip to Igloolik from Hall beach is only about a 30 minute flight. Landing is always subject to weather in these far flung northern communities. Here is the comment that I had left on the site. It awaits moderation from the owner of the blog but you can read it here first!


The plane? I was on it. We went from Hall Beach to Igloolik but on the way there it got foggy. So we turned back to go to Hall Beach. The pilot announced 15 minutes later that the fog had lifted in Igloolik. We turned back to Igloolik. When we got there, it was foggy. We circled for 11/2 hr. The pilot decided to head back to Hall Beach again. When we got there, it was foggy. We were then told the wind picked up in Igloolik clearing the fog. We turned around and headed for Igloolik.When we got there, it was too windy to land and the snow was blowing.We headed back to Hall Beach. I don’t know what happened after that as I decided to take a nap. I finally was awakened and found myself somewhere in Nunavut. It was Igloolik. Two inuksuit at the front door told me so.

I encourage you to read "The Plane" at http://www.nunablog.ca
Has the plane come in yet?
I'm going to the airport. See ya.

This is a very old snow knife. It is made of whale bone. It was used to carve blocks of snow for the building of an igloo. It is on display in the dining room of the South Camp Inn in Resolute Bay. I had spent several days in Resolute last week. The dark season has set in. The people will not see the sun again until mid February. There were many polar bears just outside of Resolute. The bears were feasting on a whale carcass that lay on the beach. The ice still hasn't formed yet. It is late again this year. The bears tend to hang around the beach waiting for the ice. If they cannot get to the seals at the floe edge then it is feared that they may start to wander into town. Climate change is having a profound effect upon the polar bears. 

Here are a few things you might see if you were driving around Iqaluit. Not much snow for this time of year. The temperatures are +10 degrees C warmer than usual as well. Home sweet home through the windshield. 

some sites along the way.... 

drivin' drivin' drivin' 

drivin' around the arctic. 

Polaroid of a Polar Bear. 

Testing, testing one two three...

This is the first pic ever taken with my new digital camera. It is an inexpensive camera with a whopping 2.0 megapixals! That's right! Count them! 2,000,000 pixels. Okay, so maybe 2 megapixals is not up to par with the state of the art equipment, but for $100 or so, it's not bad. I wanted something usable and readily disposable. I have not had much luck with digital camera equipment. Most pieces of high tech end up broken one way or another. The extreme cold is a factor. Digital camera's do not perform well in minus 40 celcius temperatures.
Anyway, here's Patches, the cat. She is a Calico kitty cat born and raised on Baffin Island in Nunavut. Say hello Patch... 

High Arctic Travelling

Once again I find myself travelling to the high arctic. I will be going to Resolute Bay and to Grise Fiord. Grise Fiord is Canada's most northerly community. There are picturesque mountains as well as barren rocky tundra that combine to make panoramic view of beauty and contrasts. I must be wary as this time of year is likely to bring me into contact with polar bears. Polar bears will walk right into town in Resolute Bay. I have seen them fight over a seal carcass on the streets. Look for new pictures to be posted after November 14. Of course if there are any blizzards then I may be returning a bit late. I can't wait to try out my new digital camera!
See you all then!